>> this is "bbc world news." funding for this presentation is made possible by the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu. newman's own foundation. and union bank.

>> union bank has put its expertise to work for a wide range of companies. what can we do for you? >> and now "bbc world news." >> more misery for murdoch, two of his senior executives are forced toic quit after the u.k. fonal hacking scandal. opposition activists in syria say dozens of protestors have been killed in demonstrations. >> hugo chavez will return to cuba within the next 24 hours to undergo further treatment for cancer. >> welcome to "bbc news" broadcasting to america and also around the world. >> a desperate plea despite millions being raised for african droughts. charities say more is needed.

>> hello and welcome. the media tycoon rupert murdoch has made a personal apology to the family of a murdered british schoolgirl who's phone was hacked by one of his newspapers. the course of the day two of mr. murdoch's senior executives during the phone hacking period resigned. >> it was the day when a chief executive walked away from the company she served for half her life, the day when her employer and friend walked into a london hotel to say sorry to the family they fear they are victims of his paper's wrongdoing. rebecca brooks is the most high profile casualty in the scandal that has spread to both sides of the lan tick. she has been at the heart of the

storm sweeping rupert murdoch's media empire and remained by his side. now she has decided to step away. in her statement she said, as you can imagine recent times have been tough. i now need to concentrate on rebutting allegations about my record as a journalist and editor and executive. ms. brooks said she felt a deep sense of responsibility for the people news international had hurt. >> i'm pleased that rebecca brooks had finally accepted responsibility for what happened in watch as editor for "the news of the world" with the phone hacking. as i said when i called for her resignation this isn't about one individual. it's about the culture of an organization. the man picked to replace rebecca brooks is already at his desk. tom markridge has been brought from italy. james murdoch thanked ms. brook for 22 years of service adding

she has been one of the outstanding editors of her generation and she can be proud in her accomplishments. we applaud her to take this step for clearing her name. >> i'm told she likes to be on the brink. she didn't know what was going on and where she was going and what direction it was. and that's why she has gone. >> this afternoon, rupert murdoch acted to undermine the apology by his former chief executive traveling across london to meet the family who lost their daughter and who are amongst the alleged targets of this phone hacking, the shock expressed by milly as fueled a sense of national outrage. mr. mur -- emerged after an hour to a barrage of questions.

>> it was a totally private meeting. >> i was appalled to find out what had happened. >> were you -- >> i apologize and i have nothing further to say. >> the solicitor spoke for the family. >> he was humbled to give us his full and sincere apology. we told him that his paper should lead the way to set the standard of honesty and decency in the field and not let it go on before. >> tomorrow rupert murdoch's signature will appear on an apology in everyone one of the u.k.'s paper. the news of the world was to hold others to account. it failed when it came to

itself. >> rebecca's roll -- role in this developing story will ensure she remains in the headline. >> while the fallout from the scandal continues on both sides of the atlantic, it's been announced that les hinton is also stepping down. we explain the significant of his departure. >> he's really rupert murdoch's right hand man. they worked together for 50 years. he was, in fact, the chairman of "news international." that's around the period the phone hacking was at its height. and he appeared before parliament on two separate occasions and he seemed to say that this was confined the hacking to one reporter. although there was a company report which suggested that people knew that the hacking

went beyond this one reporter. he insists that others had evidence that wrongdoing went further, i was not told about it. so now in one day you have two top newspaper executives designing, presumably a kind of clearing of the decks before they appear before parliament. what's notable in all of this is that the people who have lost their jobs have not been family members. the murdoches remain in control of the company. >> now some of the days other news. security forces in syria have shot dead at least 32 protestors across the country. throughout the day hundreds of thousands of people staged some of the biggest protest so far against president assad. police were at the protest.

these pictures which we cannot verify come from anti-assad groups. they came to show the latest unrest in syrian cities after hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets to repeat their demands, the assad regime to step down. opposition groups say scores of activists were killed when security forces open fired on demonstrators with live ammunition following friday prayers. the main theme was to call for the release of political officials in syria, which some estimate 10,000 people have been held. this is a similar story to the south and demonstrations were even held in neighboring lebanon. all of this comes against a backdrop of supposedly encouraging noises from the assad government. a national die hog was held

earlier this week in which critics were invited to attend. there was talks of accelerate reform. but opposition groups have treated these moves with skeptism. the protestors faced violent suppression will only deepen their distrust of the government and further than resolve to get mr. assad from office. >> the country's legitimate governing body, the country is committed to removing colonel gaddafi. it means $30 billion frozen by foreign governments cannot be released to rebels. >> thousands of people in egypt rally in other cities. the protestors are becoming increasingly impatient with the

interim government. they're demanding the police killing people be put on trial. >> hugo chavez has asked congress the permission to return to cuba to resume cancer treatment. he said he would become keemo therapy in the come -- chemotherapy in the coming days. he had a cancerous tumor removed. our correspondent sarah granger says, the continuation of the president's treatment was expected. >> yes, absolutely. i mean, the surgery that he had in cuba was the first stage and as expected with cancer, follow-up treatment and as he said this evening in caracas that would be chemotherapy perhaps some questions about him returning to cuba. there had been criticism from supporters and opposition. he was medi vaced to cuba.

some are surprised that he's going back to cuba. but they will meet tomorrow to discuss that petition by the president and likely it will be approved. >> now he actually thanked fidel castro for encouraging him to get this looked into in the first place, didn't he? so i suppose there's a very, very strong relationship there, of course, a willingness to go back to cuba to get this treatment done. >> he has a strong bond there. he says that fidel castro was the person that he noted that he wasn't looking so well and he encouraged him to slow down and take time to recover and not rush back to venezuela. so obviously those might be compelling reasons for him to return but also the fact that he probably has a lot more privacy away from the public eye, away from all those questions in caracas to get on with his recovery process. >> and sarah, we know that he has a tumor in his pelvis but we still don't know the nature of

this cancer, do we? they're keeping it under wraps. >> initially we were told that he had a pelvic abscess. so there's been some speculation that the cancer is related to that anatomical area. but we know very little about the specifics, very little about where the cancer is, what organ it's affecting and how long he will need treatment and indeed he didn't say in this request to the parliament how long he would need to spend in havana. >> now, president obama has said time is running out to reach a deal on cutting deficits and raising the u.s. debt ceiling. in a news conference he stressed the consequences of all americans if an agreement isn't reached before the second -- before the august 2nd deadline. >> congress has run-up the credit card and we now have an obligation to pay our pills.

if we cannot -- we do not question could end up where interest rates could rise around the country. >> that was president obama. >> still ahead, champagne moments, the scottish couple who won a jackpot in the rue yo millions lottery. -- euro millions lottery. >> journalists of the bbc has taken part in a 24-hour spike in redone dance si. it affected news services on television, radio and online although other services broadcast normally. the "bbc" says it's disappointed by the action. >> what do we want? >> pickett in cardiff and at local radio stations. the national union of

journalists described the strike as solid. >> nobody wants to go on strike. nobody wants to lose a day's pay but it means they leave us with no option. >> at television center, managers and some nonstriking stars worked on putting out news programs. >> the strikes are over compulsory redone dance si and the bbc monitoring center brought on the cuts. no one should be forced to leave if they don't to. the management says that's not practical. in a statement, the bbc says we apologize to our audience for any disruption of the services this may cause. industrial action may not be told the fact that the bbc is faced with a number of couple poll sorry redone dance si. lucy adams the direct for of

operations said, no business of our size could commit to such a policy. they have criticized the bbc for refusing to use the conciliation service. it calls the bbc stunning and provocative. plans are being drawn up for big cuts across the organization which will mean more job losses and possibly more strikes. jim buchanan, "bbc news." >> you're watching "bbc news." our main headline in this hour, a little controversy over the phone hacking scandal. two key executives of rupert murdoch's empire have resigned. at least 32 protestors have been killed during demonstrations against president assad. >> 15 million pounds have been raised for victims of the worst

drought in east africa for decades. but the disaster emergency committee says it's not enough to help the 10 million people who are fighting famine and disease. our correspondent has been traveling through some of the worst affected area from north eastern kenya from where he reports. >> this is north eastern kenya, one of the poorest part of the country, the landscape parched, the lives of its people blighted by drought. in one hospital in the district of hobaswain we found three-month old umi. she weighs barely less than a bag of sugar. less than the weight of a healthy children. umi was weak at birth. >> my daughter is alive now, she told me. but i worry about when i have to take her home. we have so little.

in the opposite, another mother consumed by malnutrition, she gave birth just before we arrived at the hospital, but she's grieving, her son was buried an hour ago. as zumi clings to life, she is a source of pride and worry for her father. later, he took us to his village and explained how the drought had wrecked lives. [speaking foreign language] >> all our animals are dead. there's no grazing pasture he said because there's no rain, so we have nothing. a short walk away, animal carcasses bake in the sun. >> this village is typical of so many communities in this part of rural north eastern kenya. reliant on livestock for everything, for milk, for food. and if the animals are should for an income. normally this area would be teaming with cattle and go get but as you can see it's

completely empty. dusty roads around here whisked through a land that hasn't seen rain for close to three years. we found a clinic in the village of kangara, this little one is hot, tired and underfed. >> he's severely mall nour degree -- malnourished. >> we're saving children's lives. but we can help this community rebuild their lives, restock their animals, make sure when its finely raised that they management to build reservoirs and that's equally important. >> help came too late for baby mohammed buried at just 20 days old. the sharp twigs around his grave to stop high yes nas from

digging up the -- high yes nas from digging up the body. but it might not be too late if the world acts now. >> europe's nations will hold a summit in brussels to discuss how to handle the debt crisis and to provide fresh aid for greece. 18 european banks failed stress tests to see how they would cope in case a european meltdown. the financial health of europe's banks have come under the spotlight again. 1906 the biggest banks around the con innocent have been tested to see how they will cope with the strains of a financial recession and financial meltdown. the stress test come at a difficult time for european markets. investors are already on high alert so that economic problems in greece, portugal, ireland and more rep cently spain. last year's stress test were too

soft especially when two irish banks collapsed. a new regulator leading the experience has since beefed up the test to see how they would cope with the following. there's a big drop in the value of government debt. curablely the dest did not consider tim pack of a sovereign default. even though they expect greece to default on its debt at some point in the future. against those scenarios the banks will have to show how much money or spare capital they have to with stand any losses. >> they still don't fully reflect what the market is saying today about the worse case for greek debt, possible italian debt. so they are better. they are tougher. the question is whether they're tough enough. >> eight banks have failed the

test, five from spain, two from greece and there's also an austrian bank. they will now be working with the government over the weekend on plans to strengthen their balance sheet. all four u.k. banks were given a clean bill of health. investors will be poring over the huge amount of details to run their own stress tests and they will give their verdict on monday morning when europe's market open for business. jame whittington, "bbc news." >> a british naval poised in the persian gulf are ready to react to the continued unrest in syria. the deployment of the warship proves that despite recent defense cuts that they will respond to crisis. jonathan biel reports. >> this small fleet of warships is now the frontline force of the royal navy. a british flens an unstable

region, ready if necessary to respond to a crisis with eyes focused on libya, yemen and syria. >> we were activated to deploy early. as the arabs go through the mediterranean and go to the near middle east. we are focusing on not a complex evacuation of noncombatants and humanitarian aid and disaster relief. >> they've been at sea rehearsing drills for more than three months. and with continuing unrest in the region, it's still not clear when they'll return home. if these were marines from 40 commando who help evacuate civilians or distribute humanitarian aid. here in the persian gulf they're practicing on land with troops

from the united emirates. also to hone skills that may have been forgotten. so this also shows how stretched the british military are. these members returned from afghanistan just last year. after this deployment within a few months time they'll be prepared to get it back there again. there is the greatest strain on the military and with the threat of yet more defense cuts, this is a remainder of why it's still needed. >> this is proving what we can still do as opposed to what we might not be able to do is the key message. but we are still in the business of being able to operate in this would to do this kind of thing. >> but for those left shouldering the burden of the nation undiminished gobal ambitions, the question remains how can you do more with land?

>> if we are anything else, would be we struggle. but at the moment we're supposed to be in syria, yemen, libya. if we're supposed to be in those places, we're struggling, definitely. >> the task will only get harder. a be it at the heart of this deployment and currently the royal navy's flagship is due to be moth balled as soon as she returns back home. jonathan biel, "bbc news." >> less than 24 hours after uncovering the country's largest marijuana plantation, mexican soldiers have set a light 300 acres in the state of baja california. mexico is the united states top supplier. 360 kilometers from tijuana. the crop was believed to be destined for the u.s. market.

a retired couple from scotland has emerged as the winner of the record-breaking euro jackpot. it was at 185 million euros with the biggest ever. it felt like a dream when they found out they won. this contains some flash photography. >> they say that just a normal family, not flashy, not celebrities. collin and chris we're retired camera man and a nurse are the winners of the jackpot. they were rechecking the numbers when dawn broke. >> we could see the sun come out. it was just magical. but, you know, we sort of absolutely full of adrenaline, we opened a bottle of wine and i don't drink. >> and here comes though ree yo

billion results no. >> with morning came confirmation of the win. the win catapults the we'res to 430 on the rich list. they would have preferred not to go public but didn't think they could keep their massive win secret and they wanted to enjoy it. >> we're not scared of it, you know, instead it's going to be fantastic and it's going to be so much fun. >> they're determined to do some good with their windfall. there's talk of a new car. >> i done think we'll be swapping cars. if you have a reliable car, what's the point? >> i'll be swapping cars. >> and a ticket to the jackpot.

>> congratulations to them. you can follow me on twitter at casha medere. >> funding was made possible by the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont and honolulu, newman's own foundation and union bank.

>> union bank has put its global financial strength to work for a wide range of companies. what can we do for you? >> "bbc word news" was presente